Talk group management architecture

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for supporting group communications are provided. A group list management server (GLMS) stores communications group definitions in documents, such as extensible mark-up language (XML) documents. The communications group can include communication addresses for different types of communication applications, including electronic mail, voice telephone, data, instant messaging, voice dispatch, short messaging service (SMS), and multimedia service (MMS). Various methods for managing communications groups and features provided for communications groups are provided.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/706,219, entitled “Systems and Methods for Opt-In and Opt-Out TalkGroup Management”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/706,217, entitled“Systems and Methods for Talk Group Distribution”; and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/706,218, entitled “Systems and Methods of GroupDistribution for Latency Sensitive Applications”, all of which are filedon even date herewith and all of which are herein expressly incorporatedby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Communication networks allow both one-to-one and group communications.Group communications can take a number of different forms, such asinterconnect voice conference calls, and predefined dispatch groupcalls, e.g., those provided by the iDEN network owned and operated bySprint Nextel Corporation. Typically group communications are performedand managed in a “siloed” manner such that individual applicationsmanage their own group data and provide application/service-specificmethods for group management. For example, a network operator may offerboth dispatch group calls and groups for multi-media messaging (MMS). Agroup that is defined for a dispatch group call must be recreated forthe MMS group because these group definitions are maintained in separatedatabases.

Recently the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) published the “XML DocumentManagement Requirements” Approved Version 1.0 paper(OMA-RD-XDM-V1_(—)0-20060612-A), the entire disclosure of which isherein expressly incorporated by reference. This paper describes the useof XML documents for group management. However, this paper focuses onthe use of groups for OMA Service Enablers in general such asPush-To-Talk over Cellular (PoC), Presence Services etc. The paper andthe associated release documents do not address a number of issues suchas charging, group distribution, policy and delegation rules, optinginto (opt-in) and opting out (opt-out) of a group, multiple address andtranslation requirements and other membership rules.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As communication networks offer more communication services/applicationsto end-users the conventional siloed approach to communications becomesan obstacle to adoption of these additional communicationservices/applications. Specifically, each of these communicationservices are provided using different applications for implementingcommunications and/or managing the communications. Due to the separatedesign of each of these applications the end-user typically has to learnhow to use each different application because each application may offera different user-interface

The present invention provides systems and methods for implementing andmanaging group communications, and features thereof. These systems,methods and features can support groups composed of end-users of asingle communication application and/or different communicationapplications. For example, a group can include one member that has adispatch communications application, one member with an instantmessaging application and one member with both dispatch communicationand instant messaging applications. The communications groups caninclude addresses for electronic mail, voice interconnectcommunications, instant messaging, voice dispatch communications, shortmessaging service (SMS), and multimedia service (MMS).

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present inventionwill become apparent from the following detailed description of theinvention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates a first exemplary group communications managementarchitecture in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a second exemplary group communications managementarchitecture in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a third exemplary group communications managementarchitecture in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates the OMA specifications tree for the Sync ML protocol;

FIGS. 5 a-5 c illustrate call flow diagrams of an exemplary method forcreating a new group in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a call flow diagram of an exemplary method forretrieving members in a group in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a call flow diagram for an exemplary method forsubscription and notification of changes to group definitions inaccordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 8 a-8 c illustrate call flow diagrams of an exemplary method forproviding opt-in support for groups in accordance with one aspect of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 9 a-9 c illustrate call flow diagrams for an exemplary method forproviding opt-in support for groups in accordance with another aspect ofthe present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a call flow diagram for an exemplary method ofproviding opt-out support in groups in accordance with the presentinvention; and

FIGS. 11 a-11 c illustrate call flow diagrams of an exemplary method forgroup management in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following description the term group is intended be readexpansively and not limited to particular types of groups. For example,the term group can include ad-hoc groups (i.e., groups that do notrequire a globally unique identifier and are generally managed in anend-user device), closed groups (i.e., groups that employ a globallyunique identifier and that can be managed from a central location),corporate groups (i.e., a closed group that is created by anadministrator/designated person for intra-corporate use), chatroomgroups, personal groups (i.e., groups intended for personal use whichcan be ad-hoc or closed), private groups (i.e., groups that can only beused by members of the group), public groups (i.e., groups with aglobally unique identifier that is available to both group members andnon-members), and/or the like.

Groups by definition are a collection or an aggregation of similarobjects or entities. In accordance with exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, groups are a collection of individual's identities orother group identifiers. From a data representation perspective, groupscan be represented as a tree structure. In this tree structure, thegroup identifier is the top element and the members of the group arechild elements. This tree structure can be represented in a binary ortext-based XML format. XML provides a text-based environment fordescribing and applying a tree-based structure to information.Accordingly, the present invention represents groups in XML documentsthat are structured to store group definitions and member identities.

These groups can include members with subscriptions to a variety ofcommunication applications, including, but not limited to, electronicmail, voice interconnect, voice dispatch, instant messaging, shortmessaging service (SMS), multimedia service (MMS), and/or the like.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide three differentnetwork architectures for implementing group communications and groupmanagement. These architectures can provide a number of featuresincluding a network address book service, a contact synchronizationservice, opt-in and opt-out service, group member suspension andresumption, group resolution, group management and group distributionservice.

The first architecture is based on the XML document management server(XDMS) standard with, among other things, additional interfaces providedfor web services. The second architecture is also based on the XDMSstandard, but uses push notifications. The third architecture is basedon the Open Mobile Alliance's (OMA) document management standards (DM),which is used for group list management and distribution.

FIG. 1 illustrates a first exemplary group communications managementarchitecture in accordance with the present invention. This architecturesupports opt-in/opt-out, address book synchronizations, policymanagement (with respect to groups; allowing users to set theirauthorization or preferences to participate in groups), group uniformresource identifier (URI) distributions, and subscriber profile andportal interactions. The architecture has the flexibility to managegroups via a web portal using HTTP, a mobile device using XMLconfiguration access protocol (XCAP) as well as other applicationservices using either a XCAP or a Web services application programminginterface (API). The architecture illustrated in FIG. 1 is based on OMAXDM Standards with extensions for supporting server-to-serverinteraction of applications with XDMS, synchronizing the groupdefinitions and the URI lists, implicit subscriptions for groupnotifications, a mechanism for the device client to learn of the URIList/XCAP URI list for the document owners, privacy of personal data,such as, principal identity according to privacy regulations, groupdistribution for latency sensitive applications, opting into and optingout of groups, and authorization process.

The functional entities have been divided into basic and optionalentities, all of which can be implemented by one or more processors,such as microprocessors executing processor-readable code,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs) and/or the like. The services and functions can beperformed by one or more servers, and one or more of these services andfunctions can be combined on the same server, if desired. The basicfunctional entities should be implemented in order to achieve a minimalviable group management service. It should be recognized, however, thatthe present invention can be implemented with some of these functionalentities combined into one system. Moreover, the present invention isdelineated by the claims, and elements or features denoted as basic thatare not recited in the claims should not be read into the claims.Additionally, elements and/or features described as basic but that arenot recited in particular claims should not be considered unclaimedessential matter, as these claims may relate to portions and/or featuresof the system that are inventive and do not necessarily require otherbasic elements and/or features to operate and/or can operate with otherelements and/or features. The optional entities, when implemented andintegrated with the group architecture, provide additional features andenhance the end user experience.

Aggregation Proxy 102 is the front-end element for the XCAP requests,and depending on the request will proxy or fork it to specificdestination XDM servers. The XCAP requests are encrypted from XDMClient/Agent (XDMC) 104 to aggregation proxy 102. XDM-3 interfaceprovides encryption by optionally using HTTPS procedures. It alsoaggregates responses from other XDM servers and forwards the responsesto XDM Client/Agent 104. Aggregation proxy 102 can perform contentencoding, if desired.

Aggregation proxy 102 authenticates XDM Client/Agent 104 before it isallowed access to GLMS 106 or other XDM Servers (e.g., policy XDMservers within policy service 110). The authentication credentials canbe stored as part of the device client configuration to allow forautomated authentication process described in “XML Document Management(XDM) Specification”, the entire contents of which is herein expresslyincorporated by reference, or the device client identity could beasserted by lower layer data network access procedures. If a singlesign-on service is available, it can be utilized to provide automateddevice client credentials that are appropriately tagged in the request.Authentication occurs on the XDM-3 interface using the standard HTTPdigest mechanisms as specified in RFC 2616 “Hyper-text Transfer ProtocolHTTP/1.1”, the entire contents of which is herein expressly incorporatedby reference. When web client 136 accesses GLMS 106 using HTTP protocol,authentication occurs at portal 132 and device client credentials arepassed to aggregation proxy 102 over XDM-3. Aggregation proxy 102 neednot re-authenticate the incoming messages, as the HTTP header indicatesthat the user has already been authenticated.

Group List Management Service (GLMS) 106 is the central core entity inthe architecture. GLMS 106 is similar to a shared XDM server in the OMAdocument management architecture.

GLMS 106 processes CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update and Delete) operationsfor groups that are requested from XDM Client/Agent 104 via the XCAPprotocol or received through the simple object access protocol (SOAP)based web services interface or via published API's. One of the tasks ofGLMS 106 is to ensure the global uniqueness of the groupaddress/identifier. Unlike other list servers like buddy listclassification and definition services whose scope is at the user level,the group identifier should be unique globally so that there is noconflict during group invocation and resolution. For example, two userscould define a “buddy list” called “my_friends”, however, they cannothave the same group identifier my_friends@networkoperator.com. When arequest to create a group is received by GLMS 106, it ensures that thegroup identifier (not the display name) is globally unique. If theaddress is not globally unique GLMS 106, depending on configuration,could either automatically provide a unique address or reject therequest with an appropriate error message. This function of GLMS 106differentiates it from other XML document management servers like Blacklist/White list XDM Server, a “Resource List” XDM Server, etc., wherethe XML document's scope in these servers is local, limited to eachindividual user's span.

Another aspect of the global uniqueness of the identifiers is that, whenpossible, all applications for different communication services willaddress the group with that unique identification. However, some legacyapplications cannot employ the globally unique identifier, and mayrequire an application-specific group identifier. In this case GLMS 106generates an application-specific group address to be used when thelegacy application is invoked, in addition to generating a globallyunique address for the group. For example Alice uses iDEN PTT, GroupText chat and an Email service, and Alice creates a group consisting ofBen, Carol and Dan. Since the iDEN PTT requires specific formats forcommunicating, GLMS 106 generates a globally unique identification forthe group e.g. Alices_group@sprint.com and will also generate an iDENPTT specific identifier e.g. 999*1*3456. The group identifierAlices_group@sprint.com is used for email and group text chat since boththese services in this example can use the global identifier, however toinvoke the iDEN group Alice has to use the 999*1*3456 address. Thus, itbecomes the function of the GLMS to create a globally unique address ofthe group for majority of the applications, and for applications thatcannot use that format the GLMS will create application-specificaddress, which are unique in the application domain but may or may notbe globally unique. Address translation service 108 can store theapplication-specific address for each member of the group to ensure theapplication-specific group is resolved in addressing formats incompliance to the application.

In current communication networks different applications use differentaddressing formats e.g., picture mail, push-to-talk, email, voice, etc.In order to reap the benefits of a globally unique group definition thatcan be used across different applications GLMS 106 provides multipleunique addressing formats for the same group collection, such that themultiple unique address are alias of the same group definition. Thisfunctionality is achieved by GLMS 106 interacting with addresstranslation service 108.

GLMS 106 also provides two types of notifications, one for group changes(the “auth” event) and the second one for group events (the “group”event). Both notifications are implemented using appropriatesubscriptions and permissions that are established before the eventoccurs. Details on the use of these subscriptions and notifications aredescribed below.

GLMS 106 verifies authentication credentials of requests fromaggregation proxy 102. Although GLMS 106 is not responsible forauthenticating the device client, it still has to ensure thataggregation proxy 102 has inserted an appropriate authentication headerin the request. GLMS 106 performs authorizations by collaborating withpolicy service 110.

Policy service 110 is a framework in which the rules, permissionsconditions and actions are defined. Depending on the maturity of theservice and system design, three sets of implementations can be achievedfor policy service 110. In a first implementation policy service 110 canbe an intrinsic service (i.e., policy management and enforcement done bythe policy service). In a second implementation, policy management andenforcement are segregated (policy service manages the policy documentsand the GLMS is responsible for the enforcement). In the thirdimplementation, GLMS 106 manages the policy documents with respect togroups and is also responsible for the enforcement of such policies.

In this architecture it is assumed that policy service 110 is anintrinsic service and GLMS 106 interacts with policy service 110 to getappropriate authorizations. It should be noted that even though thepolicy service provides authorizations, the authorization attributes aredistributed to other services as well. GLMS 106 interacts withsubscriber profile service 112 as the first step to determine user'ssubscription to the GLMS service. GLMS 106 then applies the globalpolicy rules depending on the group context and definitions of memberattributes, and finally it may interact with the policy service foropt-in authorizations. For example, subscriber profile service 112defines if the subscriber is allowed to use the group managementservices. Moreover, for other authorizations GLMS 106 has authority andneed not request policy service 110 to provide authorizations, e.g., bydefault GLMS 106 allows the group owner to modify the group withoutinvoking policy service 110.

GLMS 106 also interacts with the subscriber profile service 112 toretrieve subscribers' provisioned parameters. A profile informs GLMS 106whether the subscriber is allowed to make any group managementoperations. If the profile is in a home subscription server (HSS),access to the subscriber profile service could be through the Shinterface. Alternatively, access can be through another interface thatthe subscriber profile service exposes.

GLMS 106 provides notifications to group changes in documents and othergroup events. GLMS 106 maintains awareness of the subscribers'registration state for efficient notifications. A subscriber'sregistration state can be provided by subscriber profile service 112 orby presence service 114 (if available). When the notification event istriggered, GLMS 106 uses these services to ensure that the subscriber isavailable before attempting to deliver the notification. If thesubscriber is not available, then the notification can be deferred andwill be delivered when it is determined that the subscriber isavailable. However, this optimization is optional because the SIP Notifyprotocol ensures reliable delivery of the notify message.

Policy Service 110 authorizes requests and applies any privacy rules tothe response. This service provides a common store for user preferencesand manages policy documents. If there are global policies that areprovided by the service operator, they may take precedence overindividual policies. The user uploads the policies via the XDM-3/XDM-4interface. GLMS 106 collaborates with policy service 110 to ensureproper authorization of the requests. The level of collaboration dependson how policy service 110 is implemented in the network. One exemplaryuser preference is whether the user desires receipt of notifications forgroup and/or auth events.

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention,portal/provisioning system 132 can interact with policy service 110directly and authorize the group operation request before sending it tothe GLMS 106. In this embodiment the role of GLMS 106 is limited toensuring global uniqueness of the group identifier, storing the groupdefinitions, interacting with address translation service 108 (ifrequired) and interacting with the document management/devicesynchronization (DM/DS) services to distribute the group definitions. Ifthe portal/provisioning systems have already authorized the request,then it must properly tag the request in the API call to GLMS 106 toinform GLMS 106 that the authorization has already taken place.

SIP user agent is a logical entity that acts both as a user agent clientand a user agent server. The user agent client creates a transaction byinitiating a SIP Request and the client maintains a state for theduration of the transaction. The user agent server generates a responseto the SIP Request, and the response accepts, rejects, or redirects therequest. This role lasts only for the duration of that transaction. Fromthe group management perspective SIP user agent resides in the users'equipment terminal, GLMS 106 and policy service 110. The SIP user agentprovides SIP Subscriptions and SIP Notifications as specified in theInternet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 3261and RFC 3265 and is extended in the present invention for event packages“auth” and “group” as elaborated below.

REF-2 is an interface between GLMS 106 and the subscriber profileservice 112, and is used by GLMS 106 to retrieve subscriber profiles anddevice capabilities. When GLMS 106 receives a group management requestfrom a user, GLMS 106 interacts with the subscriber profile service 112to retrieve the profile. Subscriber profile service 112 may publish aWeb services SOAP-type interface for the GLMS interactions. Thesubscriber's profile has a number of attributes that GLMS 106 uses as afirst authorization step in processing the request. The profile containsinformation about the subscription to GLMS 106 and other services thatGLMS 106 uses to determine the scope of the group creation (e.g., shouldthe group span push-to-talk only or electronic mail, voice, etc.). Theprofile also contains information about the users “synchronization”service subscription that GLMS 106 uses to determine the groupdefinition synchronization process.

The physical implementation of the REF-2 interface could be a DIAMETER(Sh or COPS) based protocol, open database connectivity protocol (ODBC)or a Web (SOAP) services interface. Further, the physical mapping of thesubscriber profile could involve multiple physical databases, like HSS(Home Subscriber Server), CDM (Customer Data Mart) or a virtual layerthat provides this information from various underlying elements.Finally, the subscriber profile service attributes are controlled by theservice provider, and the end-user (subscriber) cannot change thoseattributes, although policy service 110 allows the subscriber to manageindividual preferences. Upon retrieval of a subscriber profile, GLMS 106ensures that the user has subscribed to the GLMS services (thegranularity of the profile could indicate the type of groups the usercan create, e.g., closed groups, chat-rooms, etc).

XDM Client/Agent 104 interacts with the XDM servers via the aggregationproxy 102. XDM Client/Agent 104 and aggregation proxy 102 communicateusing the XDM-3 interface, which is a connection-oriented interface thatuses TCP/HTTP as a transport. The group management and policy managementfunctions like creating, retrieving, updating and deleting group andpolicy documents are done via this interface. This interface alsoprotects GLMS 106 and policy service 110 by providing device clientauthentications. For over-the-air optimization this interface supportscompression, if desired. This interface complies with the OMA XDM-3reference point described in “XML Document Management Architecture”, theentire disclosure of which is herein expressly incorporated byreference.

The XDM-4 interface is an XCAP interface that forwards the authenticateddevice client request from aggregation proxy 102 to the various XCAPservers (e.g., GLMS 106, policy service 110, etc.). This interfacecomplies with the OMA XDM-4 reference point described in “XML DocumentManagement Architecture”. The XDM-4 interface is used by GLMS 106 toaccess policy service 110, which stores global policy documents specificto the GLMS, e.g., global rules for a group owner, rules for a delegateand group number. GLMS 106 interacts with the policy service to fulfillthe opt-in process. The XDM-4 interface is used to get the standard andglobal policy rules that GLMS 106 uploads during startup. The XDMservers are GLMS and XML document servers contained in policy service110.

XDM Client/Agent 104 is implemented in the subscriber's equipmentterminal that is used to access the network. This terminal can be, forexample, a wireless mobile station that operates on macro wirelessnetworks, a WiFi or WiMAX mobile station, a wireless personal digitalassistant (PDA), fixed-line device and/or the like. XDM Client/Agent 104implements the XCAP protocol as per the “Extensible Markup Language(XML) Configuration Access Protocol” document and supports resourcelists and differential lists as specified in an “Extensible MarkupLanguage (XML) Formats for Representing Resource Lists and an ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML) Document Format for Indicating Changes in XMLConfiguration Access Protocol (XCAP) Resources”, the entire disclosureof which are herein expressly incorporated by reference. XDMClient/Agent 104 can also be implemented in a network-based applicationserver where the application server assumes the role of the XDMClient/Agent and uses the XCAP protocol with other XDM servers.

Now that the basic entities have been described, the optional entitieswill be presented. These entities have been classified as optional froma perspective that they add value by managing groups beyond thedevice/terminal and enabling interactions beyond the basic ones (e.g.,CRUD).

Address book service 118 provides a network-based storage for personalcontact data. A group entry in a user's address book will be perceived,by the user, in a similar way to a contact or individual entity. Hence,even though at the network layer these are managed by distinct services,the end-user should be provided with a unified view of his/her“contacts”. Thus, GLMS 106 and address book services 118 interact inorder to provide that unified view to the user. Further, since usersubscription to a network-based address book is optional (i.e., it maynot be bundled as part of the basic package), group management serviceis not dependent on the address book service 118 for deliveringend-to-end group functionality.

Address translation service 108 provides a mapping between various useridentities. If a group spans multiple services, and if those servicesare addressed using different addressing formats, then GLMS 106interacts with the address translation service 108 to construct multiplegroup identities specific to each service. Address translation service108 may not be needed when individual addresses for various applicationsare included in the request to create group.

Online charging function (OCF) 120 performs event-based charging inconjunction with charging trigger function (CTF) 126 in GLMS 106, whichgenerates the events for the charging trigger. Online charging function120 internally interacts with rating function (RF) 122 and the accountbalance management function (ABMF) 124. Rating function 122 determinesthe necessary monetary charge which it then updates in the accountmanagement balance function (ABMF) 124. For more details the interestedreader can refer to 3GPP “Charging Management Technology Specification”Technical Specification 32.240, the entire disclosure of which isexpressly incorporated by reference. If prepaid subscribers or thirdparty applications are charged in real-time for performing groupmanagement functions, then GLMS 106 implements the charging triggerfunction 126 that interfaces with online charging function 120 toauthorize the group operations. Aggregation proxy 102 and GLMS 106provide charging events and logging that is used for post-billing. Forevent-based charging of CRUD operations, GLMS 106 interacts with theonline charging function 120 via CTF 126 that is compliant with theaforementioned 3GPP Technical Specification. Although charging may notbe implemented for the network operator's subscribers, it may berequired for external entities (e.g. developers, MVNOs, advertisers,external subscribers etc.).

Data distribution function 128 distributes group data and other relatedinformation to latency sensitive applications servers, e.g.,push-to-talk application servers. Having a local copy of the groupdefinitions saves processing and roundtrip delays to GLMS 106, andallows applications to rapidly process the incoming setup request by nothaving to access GLMS 106 for the group membership. When a group isdefined for latency sensitive applications, GLMS 106 recognizes this byusing a combination of the group request (that contains the serviceidentification) and locally configured parameters, and then forwards thegroup information including the service identifier to data distributionfunction 128, which then retrieves the list of application servers thatneed the data and reliably pushes this to each application servers.

The REF-3 interface is used for latency sensitive applications. GLMS 106uses this interface to push group definitions to data distributionfunction 128. It becomes the responsibility of data distributionfunction 128 and the distribution network to ensure a reliabledistribution of the group data to the application servers. The protocolfor this reference point is dependent on the implementation of the datadistribution service and can be ODBC a Web services/SOAP type interface,etc., for the GLMS interactions.

Network-based presence service 114 provides presence data to watchers.Presence service enhances group usability by providing presenceinformation for group members. Presence service 114 is not required forproviding basic group management service, but is required if a user wereto request presence subscription for groups, in addition to that ofindividuals in his/her buddy list.

Portal 132 provides a variety of web-based services, e.g.,managing/viewing customers' bills, managing address books, presentingmarketing offers, customer support, device management etc. Portal 132provides both public content that can be viewed by anyone and securecontent that is available only after appropriate user authentication andauthorization. Portal 132 aggregates content from several backendservices and presents it to the user's web client to be rendered in agraphically rich format. Communications between portal 132 and webclient 136 are encrypted. The portal allows users to create, view andmanage groups. Web client 136 is a HTTP-enabled client that interactswith portal 132. Web client 136 processes user inputs, facilitates userinteractions for group data management, and renders portal responses tothe user in an appropriate format. Web client 136 can be implemented ona separate device or can be a component of the terminal equipment.

SIP core 130 is a collection of SIP enabled servers that include SIPuser agent servers, SIP Proxies and SIP Registrars. These elements playa role in routing the SIP messages based on the Request URI. SIP core130 routes the SIP Subscribe Notify messages between SIP user agent 116and GLMS 106. In the OMA/3GPP specifications the SIP core 130 issynonymous with an IMS core. The XDM-2 interface forwards the SIPmessage to the GLMS 106, and when the SIP/IP Core network 130corresponds to 3GPP IMS or 3GPP2 MMD, the subscriber's preferred publicSIP URI is inserted in P-Asserted-Identity header. On the return paththe XDM-2 interface transports the SIP Notify message to the deviceclient. This interface complies with the OMA XDM-2 reference pointdescribed in “XML Document Management Architecture”, with the additionof the “group” and “auth” event packages described below. The XDM-1interface is used by SIP user agent 116 to send and receive SIPSubscribe and Notify messages to SIP core 130. This interface complieswith the OMA XDM-1 Reference Point described in “XML Document ManagementArchitecture”, with the addition of the “group” and “auth” eventpackages.

Synchronization service 134 synchronizes end-user's personal informationlike address book data, etc., across multiple devices owned by the user.The synchronization service facilitates distribution of group data tovarious devices owned and registered within a user's account. However,since subscription to synchronization service may be implemented as anoptional service, group management service is not dependent onsynchronization and/or address book service 118 for implicitly notifyingand distributing the group data to the users' identified as groupmembers. To a subscriber the group identifier is just another contact inthe address book and much like individual contacts expects them to bebacked up and synchronized across various devices owned by him/her.

The DM-1 interface, between the user terminal and synchronizationservice 134, is the SyncML interface that allows the network to managedevices and synchronize address books and other data. This interface iscompliant with the OMA DM specifications, and is optional for the groupmanagement architecture. Once the group is created, GLMS 106 forwardsthe group address (URI) and other data, such as the group definitions,(entire member list need not be sent) to address book 118 andsynchronization service 134, which then synchronize the group addressusing the SyncML protocol to the members of the group. Ifsynchronization is a paid service, the distribution can be performedusing the SIP Subscribe Notify interface. Similar to “auth” eventpackage for authorization, the present invention defines a “group” eventpackage, to which users subscribe to group URIs, the subscription allowsdistribution of group information via notifications.

The REF-1 interface is used for authorization services and provides thecapability for GLMS 106 to integrate into the Web Services and SOAPArchitecture. It allows access to GLMS 106 by other intrinsic servicesand third party application developers so that they can embed groupfunctionality into their applications. It also allows GLMS 106 tointeract with other services like address translation services, policyservices etc. This interface is used by GLMS 106 to access policyservice 110, which stores global policy documents specific to GLMS 106,e.g., global rules for a group owner, rules for a delegate and groupmember. The standards-based reference architecture for GLMS 106 isextended to support group management via a web services interface/SOAPAPI's. The REF-1 interface provides an opportunity for other applicationservers to interact with GLMS 106 without having to implement a XDMCclient. It also provides GLMS 106 with the ability to interact withother service enablers like address translation service, policy service,etc.

Now that the first exemplary architecture has been described, variousfeatures using this architecture are described below. Exemplaryembodiments of the present invention provide mechanisms for discovery ofthe GLMS and policy service. The XDM Client/Agent 104 is configured withthe fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the XCAP root and the audit ID(AUID) of GLMS 106 and policy service 110. These FQDNs generally resolveto the XDM aggregation proxy which can be factory parameter or could beconfigured using over-the-air protocols like OMA DM. When a user or anapplication server acting as an XDMC needs to perform group managementoperations, the network DNS (Domain Name Server) is used to resolve theconfigured address, and aggregation proxy 102 uses the GLMS AUID in theXCAP URI to route the request. Similarly, when a user or an applicationserver acting as an XDMC needs to perform policy management operations,the network DNS is used to resolve the configured address, and theaggregation proxy uses the Policy AUID in the XCAP URI to route therequest. The SIP user agent uses the procedures defined in IETF RFC 3263to discover the SIP interface (IP, Port and Transport UDP/TCP) of GLMS106 and policy service 110. The GLMS and policy service discoveryreference points are not shown in FIG. 1.

The present invention allows for over-the-air optimizations. Theover-the-air bandwidth optimization can be accomplished either viaregular HTTP compression or through WB XML (binary XML) protocols onXDM-3 interface. WB XML can be employed when there are a large number oftransactions per subscriber per busy hour.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide groupsubscriptions and notifications, which are features that allow users tosubscribe to and get notified of changes to group data and inclusion ofthe user into as a member of a group. The interface XDM-1/XDM-2 providesthe flexibility for subscription to standard event packages as well asnetwork operator defined event packages. One particular extension is the“implicit subscription” to groups that have not yet been created, sothat when a group is created or new members added, new members of thegroup can get an explicit notification of their inclusion in the group.

Policy service 110 also provides a subscription and notification featurethat allows users to subscribe to and get notified of “authorization”events, which is an event package that supports opt-in (describedbelow). A subscriber has to subscribe to the “auth” event package withpolicy service 110 using the XDM-1/XDM-2 interfaces.

GLMS 106 also provides a subscription and notification feature thatallows users to subscribe to and get notified of “group” events. This isan event package that supports group distributions if the device clientdoes not support synchronization service 134. A subscriber has tosubscribe to the “group” event package with GLMS 106 using theXDM-1/XDM-2 interfaces. The group event provides notifications when thegroup is created and also when the group definition is deleted. Itshould be noted that this is different from the standard XCAP “diff”event package that provides notification for changes to the document.

Another feature of the present invention is the ability to opt-in to agroup, which can be supported via implicit subscription to the “auth”event with policy service 110. Notifications for opt-in events are sentover the XDM-1/XDM-2 interfaces.

It is should be recognized that currently OMA XDM only specifiessubscriptions using the SIP user agent profile for document changes.More specifically, the AUID to be watched has to be placed in the “auid”event header parameter, and the Group URL in “document” event headerparameter as specified in the IETF document “A Framework for SessionInitiation Protocol User Agent Profile Delivery,” the entire disclosureof which is herein expressly incorporated by reference. In cases wherethe “document” header is not being used, it specifies that asubscription be placed to all the documents under the AUID owned by theuser identified in the Request-URI. See, for example, “XML DocumentManagement (XDM) Specification”. Accordingly, the user either“subscribes” to changes to a specific document change or all documentchanges. A mechanism to subscribe to future documents in which the“elements” match specific strings has not been specified in thestandards. Further, the mechanism to get an explicit authorization fromthe user before being added to group is not defined in the standards.

Below is an example of an event header where the subscriber wants to benotified of changes for the “joebloggs_friends” document. See “XMLDocument Management (XDM) Specification”.

Event: ua-profile;profile-type = “application”; auid =“org.openmobilealliance.pocgroups”; Vendor = “vendor 1”; Model =“1”;Version = “1.0”;document = “org.openmobilealliance.poc groups/users/sip:joe.bloggs@example.com/joebloggs_friends/”

As described above, the present invention includes an “auth” eventpackage that is an extension to existing standards. The “auth” eventpackage facilitates user receipt of notifications from policy service110 when explicit authorization from the user is required. Depending onthe user policy, explicit authorization may be required for addition toa group and/or changes to a group and deletion from a group. Inaccordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an eventpackage in the subscription body in combination with policy rules thatthe user has uploaded indicate the specific events for whichnotification is required. The notification would, at a minimum, indicatethe group owner, the group URL and the specific action being taken. Thenotification is delivered to the device client over the XDM-1/XDM-2interface. Depending on the user interface design in the terminal, thenotification can be announced to the user with an audio-visual alert.The notification can also be placed in a message queue for user action.

Policy service 110 embeds context specific feedback commands in thenotification body, that could be presented via the user interface forfeedback. For example, context specific commands may include “accept”,“reject”, “always accept from <group owner>”, “always reject from <groupowner>” etc. Adding context specific commands by policy service 110simplifies user interface design in the terminal. When the user providesfeedback to the notification, the response is formatted as an XMLdocument. The XDM Client/Agent 104, via the XDM-3/XDM-4 referencepoints, then uploads the document to policy service 110. Policy service110 acts on the uploaded document and provides feedback to therequesting service (e.g., GLMS 106). In some cases the “contextspecific” commands may not be present in the notifications to the deviceclients, these notifications are called informational notifications andthe system is not expecting and/or does not require any feedback fromthe user/device client. Informational notifications, as the namesuggests, are used as unidirectional notifications to the user, due tosome external event or user configured criteria.

Regarding group distribution, the conventional OMA XDMS architecturedoes not allow a user to distribute an XML document via the XDMS serverto other users. However, it does allow users to fetch the document usingan XCAP GET method if the document URL is known. OMA XDMS also does notspecify the mechanisms for the user to learn of the document URL. Otherareas of OMA, for example the OMA PoC, specify a group advertisementprocess by using the SIP MESSAGE method. One problem of the messagemethod is that it can be used for spamming and denial of service attacksby opening the door for unsolicited messages to the terminal. This canbe controlled by making it incumbent on the device client to indicateits preference of receiving new group definitions via an explicit SIPSUBSCRIBE message.

To overcome constraints of conventional OMA/XDMS architecture describedabove, another extension to the standards provided by the presentinvention is the “group” event package. In order to support subscriptionto future group definitions (groups that have not been defined yet), anevent package called “group” event is employed that can be inserted inthe SUBSCRIBE message, which is then sent to GLMS 106. GLMS 106 sendsthe Notify to the “group” event that includes an XML body (e.g.,resource-list+xml) informing the user when new groups are created ordeleted. The device's user interface may present the notification viathe appropriate audio-visual indications and place the notifications ina queue for user action. The user action can be to add or remove thegroup definition to or from the personal address book. This distributionoccurs at the time of group creation or deletion. In someimplementations the group owner can request the re-distribution of thegroup with the group members after the group has been created.

This subscription to the “group” event is used when the device clienthas not subscribed to address book 118 and synchronization 134 service.If the user has subscribed to address book 118 and synchronization 134service then GLMS 106 interacts with these services in the networklayer. Address book 118 and synchronization service 134 then use theSyncML protocol to distribute the group definition to the user. For eachuser in the group, GLMS 106 interacts with subscriber profile service112 to determine the method of group distribution i.e., using “group”event subscription or via address book service 118 and synchronizationservice 134.

Authorizations in GLMS 106 are required for creating groups, for addinguser to a group, deleting users, and deleting groups, and groupdistribution and event subscription (group events and group changessubscriptions). For policy service 110, authorizations are required formanaging the policy documents and “auth” event subscriptions. GLMS 106interacts with policy service 110 and subscriber profile service 112 toobtain proper authorizations for performing group management.

For creating groups, GLMS 106 obtains the subscriber data fromsubscriber profile service 112, which has the data attribute thatindicates if the subscriber is allowed to use the GLMS service. Thisattribute is added as part of the provisioning process of thesubscriber.

GLMS 106, by default, allows the group owner to add or delete members tothe group. In order for other group members or designated delegates tomodify the group, GLMS 106 interacts with policy service 110 todetermine if the appropriate operation is allowed. GLMS 106 also uploadsand stores pre-defined rules from policy service 110 for role-basedauthorizations such as administrator, delegate, chairperson, preferreduser, default user etc. If the group owner identifies each member of thegroup with a specific role as part of the group definition, then GLMS106 independently processes the group modification request provided therequesting users still have a valid subscription to GLMS service as partof the user profile. The role-based policy documents are part of policyservice 110 and GLMS 106 uploads them during startup via the XDM-4interface and subscribes to changes to these global policy documents viathe XDM-2 interface.

If the XCAP PUT URI has a user identifier that does not match the userperforming the action (request), then GLMS 106 verifies if the requestis a “delegate” action (i.e. a delegate creating or updating a group) ora member changing his/her attributes to “suspend” or other attributes asdefined by the policy rules.

For opt-in, GLMS 106 interacts with policy service 110 by sending thegroup definition to policy service 110 and waiting for explicitauthorization before adding the user to the group. If a subscriber needsto update the policy with regard to the opt-in process, the userinteracts with policy service 110 to update group related policies, suchinteraction being a one time authorization/rejection or a permanentrejection/acceptance for Black/White lists that the policy servicemaintains. For example, Alice creates a group that includes Bob, andBob's policy rules indicate that he must be notified for all groupinclusions. Bob may give permission for his inclusion into the group. Inaddition, if Bob wants to automatically authorize his inclusion ingroups that Alice creates in the future, he can upload a policy document(e.g., an XML document) to policy service 110 indicating that bydefault, Bob should be included in all groups created by Alice withoutexplicit authorization from the him.

GLMS 106 also brokers between user, account and carrier policies in aconsistent manner to ensure appropriate user experience of groupmanagement service.

Opting-out of the group is supported via the XCAP interface. The usermay get notified when the group is created via a SIP Notify, the usermay see the group as part of the synchronization process, or the usermay be pulled into a group call and may choose to opt-out permanently orsuspend membership for a period of time. If a user does not wish toparticipate in the group permanently the user can use the XCAP DELETEmethod, and if the user does not wish to participate in the group for aspecific time (suspend) the user can use the XCAP PUT to change theattributes to indicate a suspension. Upon user input, the XCAP clientuploads an XML document to GLMS 106 via the XDM-3/XDM-4 interfaceindicating either a suspension or deletion. GLMS 106 acts according tothe instructions received in the XML document from the client and anypolicies surrounding the opting-out, i.e., opting-out of a group may/maynot be allowed depending on the group type and other settings of thegroup. Specifically, groups can be created where membership is mandatoryand group members are not provided with an option of acceptingmembership. For example, a CEO can create a group with mandatorymembership and all group members automatically become members of thegroup.

Depending upon implementation, either the XCAP Delete or the XCAP PUTmethod can be employed.

For delete operations, GLMS 106 ensures that the device client'sasserted identity matches the members' list entry the user is trying todelete to ensure that a member of a group can delete only their entryfrom the group membership. A “delegate” has the capability to performall operations on the group by definition (or as defined by the policyservice), but a member may only have the authorizations to deletethemselves from the group. Thus, upon receipt of the XCAP DELETEoperations, GLMS 106 uses the device client's “Asserted Identity” andcompares that with the XUI (XCAP URI) path that has the group owner. Thecomparison of the two identities determines if the request is from thegroup owner, group delegate or any member of the group. Because theopt-out is for group members to either “reject” or “suspend” theirmembership from the group, GLMS 106 ensures that members can changetheir attribute.

In accordance with one implementation the XCAP PUT method can beemployed for both the “reject group membership” and “suspending groupmembership”. Accordingly, the user changes the corresponding attributein the XML document by using the XCAP PUT method, which allows GLMS 106to keep transient state of the members' request to opt-out. Thetransient state of the member attributes (e.g., a member changed his/hergroup membership attribute from “active” to “reject”) is useful when thegroup owner has subscribed to “notification” for group changes. If thegroup owner is currently unavailable to receive the notifications (e.g.due to power off or out of coverage), GLMS monitors the transient state(e.g., active to reject) since GLMS 106 also needs to notify the groupcreator of the progress of the group formation. Further, the watchers ofthe group are notified of the change.

The “auth” event and the “group” event packages appear similar but theyserve different functions. The “auth” event receives notifications whenauthorization is required and the “group” event receives notificationsof the group identifier, display name, parameters, etc. It is possiblethat a subscriber can receive two notifications, one due to an “auth”event and the other due to a “group” event. For example, Bob has notsubscribed to the synchronization service, so Bob subscribes to “group”events with the GLMS. Bob also has a default policy in the policyservice that indicates that he must be notified to get an explicitauthorization before being added to a group. Now Alice creates a groupthat has Bob as a member. Policy service 110 notifies Bob of therequest. Once Bob accepts the membership, the group is created, and assoon as the group is created Bob is notified by GLMS 106 of the newgroup. Accordingly, for the same group Bob received two notificationsbut for different reasons.

Assume now that Bob defines a policy rule (formatted as an XML policydocument) that provides automatic acceptance for groups that Alicecreates and includes him as a member. The policy document is uploadedover the XDM-3/XDM-4 interface. When Alice later creates a new groupthat includes Bob, he receives only one notification from GLMS 106 dueto the “group” event subscriptions.

Application-specific GLMS functions can be provided as a softwareextension (plug-in) to GLMS 106 or could be implemented as a separateentity. If it is implemented as a separate entity then GLMS 106 can usethe XDM-4 XCAP or the REF-1 interface for collaborating with theapplication-specific GLMS. Distributing groups to latency sensitiveapplications, specific address translation functions for applicationsare examples of application-specific functions. The application-specificfunctions are not illustrated as a separate entity in FIG. 1.

The OMA XDM specification does not specify procedures for a XDMclient/agent to learn the XCAP URI's of other user's document andwithout knowing the globally unique group identifier the group cannot beinvoked, joined, etc. Using the implicit subscriptions for group “event”package, the present invention allows members of the group learn of thegroup URI by the notifications from GLMS 106. Further, the architectureis flexible to support HTTP-based mechanism to perform search operationsvia the portal or other search methods like voice enablement. Theseinterfaces are not illustrated in FIG. 1.

In order to support privacy, the architecture of FIG. 1 employs theIETF's Common Policy specification (Document Format for ExpressingPrivacy Preferences) and the common policy extensions defined in OMA PoCand Presence XDM specifications. Users can use the XDM-3/XDM-4 to uploadtheir privacy preferences to policy service 110. Other applications ofprivacy are anonymity as part of the group definitions, e.g., userscould choose to be anonymous as part of the group definitions so thatwhen other members retrieve the group definitions their name/address iswithheld by GLMS 106.

The architecture described above is standards-based and uses openprotocols like XCAP, SIP and DIAMETER protocols and web servicesconcepts like Parlay X and SOA. The architecture is extensible forfuture applications requiring service composition and shared resourcemanagement, i.e., presence, instant messaging, etc. It allows multipleapplications to use group definitions. The architecture provides freedomto perform custom operations e.g., group distribution for latencysensitive applications such as push-to-talk. Implementing astandards-based client (XDMC) on the device provides for multiple OEMvendors to offer the group management as a native support in the devicefor XCAP protocols.

FIG. 2 illustrates a second exemplary group communications managementarchitecture in accordance with the present invention. The architectureof the second exemplary embodiment is based on the OMA XDMSspecification, and is extended to support address book synchronizations,policy, group URI distributions, profile and portal interactions. Themain difference from the architecture described above in connection withFIG. 1 is the elimination of the SIP Subscribe Notify interface andreplacing that with a “Push Notification” interface. In thisarchitecture groups can be managed both from a web portal (HTTP), mobiledevice (XCAP) and other application services using either a XCAP or aWeb services API.

The XDM 3, XDM-4, REF-1, REF-2, REF-3 and DM-1 interfaces operate in thesame manner as that described above in connection with FIG. 1. The PushAccess Protocol (PAP), which interfaces between the Push Initiator andpush proxy gateway 230 (PPG), and the OTA Push interface are differentinterfaces from those described above in connection with FIG. 1. The PAPinterface uses the PAP protocol, and is independent of the underlyingtransport, i.e., it can be transported over virtually any protocol thatallows MIME types to be transported over the Internet.

Most of the functional entities in the architecture illustrated in FIG.2 are similar to those discussed above in connection with FIG. 1, andthe new entities are described below.

A service provider has several applications that seek to “push” (i.e.,send without a synchronous request) content to a device client (i.e., apush-compliant mobile device). This is in contrast to “pull” technology,which requires a synchronous request from the device client. Push to adevice client is facilitated by PPG 230 between the wired and wirelessnetworks. PPG 230 then uses over-the-air mechanisms to send thenotification to the device client. PPG 230 provides notifications whenan opt-in event is triggered, and pushes the group data and parametersto the device.

The push initiator initiates the push request using the PAP (Push AccessProtocol). In the architecture illustrated in FIG. 2, GLMS 206 andpolicy service 210 act as a push initiator, and push client 210 ondevice 250 receives the push notifications from PPG 230.

Most of the system concepts of the architecture of FIG. 2 are similar tothe system concepts of the architecture of FIG. 1, including GLMSdiscovery, authentication, security and encryption, Web servicesinterfaces, policy service, subscriber profile service, opt-out,charging, synchronizations and application-specific GLMS functions. Themain difference between the architectures of FIGS. 1 and 2 is the mannerin which end-users subscribe to and are notified of group changes. Thearchitecture of FIG. 1 employs SIP Subscribe/Notify, while thearchitecture of FIG. 2 employs WAP Push to notify users of groupchanges.

Since device 250 does not have a SIP Subscribe interface, user-defined(or configured) subscriptions to group changes and group eventnotifications are not supported in the architecture of FIG. 2. However,as a matter of local policy subscriptions to receive changes to thegroup data could be implemented including a limited set of subscriptionsby indicating preferences in the policy profile managed by a networkoperator and/or administrator, e.g., a network operator configuredglobal policy to notify subscribers (via PPG 230) of certain grouprelated events. The lack of a user-defined interface from the device formanaging subscriptions does not provide an elegant user experience,however, the architecture does provide a portal front-end that couplesto the GLMS to provide some management aspects through a webclient/browser. A web client on the terminal could also act as a deviceclient to the portal to mange notifications, however, in this case theuser has to subscribe to a “data” access plan in-addition to theterminals support of such a web client.

In the architecture of FIG. 2 users are notified of group events via PPG230, wherein GLMS 206 and policy service 210 act as the Push Initiator.In order to receive notifications, the device client supports the OTAprotocol, OTA-WSP or OTA-HTTP. Once the connection is established, itcan be used to transport the push content from PPG 230 to device 250.Further, the device may have preferences for a TO-TCP connection or aPO-TCP connection establishment method. The OMA's Push OTAOMA-WAP-TS-Push OTA-V2-1-20051122-C specification, the entire contentsof which are incorporated by reference, defines two methods forestablishing an active TCP connection (i.e., a TCP connection to be usedfor push delivery). The methods are PPG Originated TCP (PO-TCP) andTerminal Originated TCP (TO-TCP). PO-TCP allows an active TCP connectionto be established when the bearer is active (or can be activated by thePPG) and the terminal's IP address is known by the PPG. The TO-TCPmethod addresses other cases, and is usually used in combination withthe Session Initiation Request (SIR) mechanism. As part of the pushmessage submission, GLMS 206 or policy service 210 is aware of thedevice client capabilities that are included in the message. GLMS 206can obtain this information from subscriber profile service 212. In thearchitecture of FIG. 2 notifications serve two purposes. The firstpurpose is notifications for opt-in (i.e., policy service initiatedpush), and notifications for group attributes (i.e., GLMS initiated pushfor the group data distribution).

In order implement opt-in support the subscriber (or the networkoperator) indicates this in a policy or configuration profile. Policyservice 210 sends notifications to device client 216 via PPG 230 to gettheir explicit authorization. The receiving client acknowledges theirparticipation in the group via regular XCAP procedures. The notificationvia PPG 230 contains sufficient information for the XCAP client tosupport the feedback process.

Another feature of the architecture of FIG. 2 is group datadistribution, which is different from the data distribution servicedescribed above in connection with FIG. 1. The group data distributionallows GLMS 206 to send the group information to device clients via thepush notifications, which is independent of the synchronization service.Accordingly, if some applications require the group data to be availableon the device client before the group service can be invoked, GLMS 206checks the user profile to see if the user has subscribed tosynchronization service. If the user has not subscribed to thesynchronization service, GLMS 106 acts as a Push Initiator and sends theinformation via PPG 230.

The technical areas and features of the architecture of FIG. 2 that areextensions to the conventional OMA XDM are similar to those describedabove in connection with the first architecture.

The architecture of FIG. 2 does not support the SIP Subscribe Notifyinterface so it is not possible for an end-user to subscribe to opt-inevents or group changes events. However, as a matter of administrativepolicy the network operator could set default rules in GLMS 206 andpolicy service 210 that informs GLMS 206 that opt-in is required. GLMS206 then interacts with policy service 210 that acts a “Push Initiator”to send notifications via the PPG, MMS, SMS, etc. Even though thisprocess works by an administrator-defined policy there can be aself-managed mechanism by which a user could update the preferencese.g., if a user does not want to receive the notifications but wants tobe still added to all groups by default. The XDM-3/XDM-4 interfacessupports this by allowing a user to upload personal preferences topolicy service 210. The user can also upload personal preferences topolicy service 210 via portal 132 using an HTTP interface.

When a user receives a notification through the PPG 230, MMS, SMS etc,the user can indicate the preference by uploading an XML document topolicy service 210, which indicates the results of the opt-in process toGLMS 206 via the REF-1 interface. GLMS 206 maintains a transient stateof the group membership responses to appropriately notify the groupowner/creator. In the architecture of FIG. 2 the creator receivesnotifications when the participants accept or reject the groupmembership via the PPG/SMS/MMS. The notification of the new group URIcould be done via the PPG, where the GLMS acts as a Push Initiator andsends this information in the notification.

The architecture illustrated in FIG. 2 is based on sub-set of OMA XDMstandard and uses open protocols like XCAP, HTTP, and DIAMETER protocolsthat are developed by IETF. The architecture serves as a foundation formigrating to a fully OMA XDM compliant state. Applications requiringshared resource management e.g., VoIP conferencing, benefit from acentralized GLMS. Multiple applications may need to expand the groupdefinitions and having a common service in the network that providesthis makes the network architecture robust. The architecture providesfreedom for the service specific components of GLMS 206 to performcustom operations e.g., the push-to-talk-specific GLMS needs toimplement the push function where it needs to distribute the groupdefinition to the call processing functions to avoid latency impacts.

FIG. 3 illustrates a third exemplary group communications managementarchitecture in accordance with the present invention. Since theinterfaces and functional entities in architecture of FIG. 3 are asubset of those described above in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2, adetailed description of these interfaces are not repeated here. FIG. 4illustrates the OMA specifications tree for the Sync ML protocol. Thespecification is structured as one root element called “CommonSpecifications” and two child specifications, one for DataSynchronization and the second for the Device Management.

The OMA SyncML Common Specifications define the representations of theSyncML, the transport bindings for HTTP, OBEX and WSP, themeta-information and the server alerted notifications. The commonspecifications act as a foundation for both DS and DM implementations.Additional details are available in “OMA SyncML Common Specifications”V1.1.2, the entire disclosure of which is herein expressly incorporatedby reference. The OMA Data Synchronization Specifications defines thespecific protocol representations for data synchronization that allowthe device client and server to exchange information and specific dataobjects like Email, File and Folder. Additional details are available inOMA SyncML Data Synchronization Specifications, the entire disclosure ofwhich is herein expressly incorporated by reference.

The OMA Device Management Specifications defines the SyncMLrepresentation specific for device management that are used between thedevice client and the server to exchange information, the devicemanagement notifications, the three DM standard objects, which are: theDevice Management Account Objects (DMAcc) for settings of the DMclients; the Device Info Objects (DevInfo) for the device informationfor the DM servers sent from the device client; and the DevDetailobjects which contain other information that can be controlled by the DMServer but not sent automatically by the device client to the server.Additional details are available in OMA SyncML Device ManagementSpecifications, the entire disclosure of which is herein expresslyincorporated by reference.

Fundamentally, both DM and DS specifications use the same methods toachieve their individual tasks i.e., both rely on a Server AlertNotification (SAN) to alert the device client when the network sever hasdata to send and both use the SyncML protocol to transport data betweenthe server and the device client. The differences lie in the standardobject definitions and formats for the DS and the DM services. Since theunderlying principles of these services are same, this architectureoption considers them jointly and it depends on the implementation toeither use the DM or the DS service for group management.

One of the key differences of the architecture of FIG. 3 as compared tothe architecture of FIGS. 1 and 2 is the elimination of the SIPSubscribe Notify and XCAP interfaces. Lack of XCAP interface inarchitecture of FIG. 3, eliminates some flexibility of managing groupsfrom the device, such as creating, updating, and retrieving group data.However, groups can be managed from a web portal (HTTP), by a customeragent, or by a designated administrator from an enterprise.

The basic functional entities for this architecture are GLMS 306, datasynchronization or device management function(s) 360, policy service310, subscriber profile service 312, portal provisioning system 332 andPPG 330. On the device side, the Push Client and the DM/DS Clients areincluded.

Portal/provisioning system 332 acts as a front-end system to GLMS 306,and is responsible for authenticating the user and interfacing withaddress book service 318 to present the users contacts(personal/corporate etc). The user can then choose various contacts tobe part of the group.

GLMS 306 is the central core entity in the architecture, and the majorfunctions have been described above in connection with the architectureof FIG. 1. The main deviations to the functions are described below.GLMS 306 does not provide any notification functions to the subscribersdirectly, but instead informs the data synchronization/device managementservice 360 of the group via a web services API and then those servicesare responsible for sending the group definition to the device bysending a notification on the OTA Push interface and synchronizing thegroup definition on the DM-1 Sync ML interface.

Policy service 310 is responsible for authorizing requests and applyingany privacy rules to the response. This service provides a common storefor user preferences and manages policy documents. If there are globalpolicies that are provided by the service operator, they may takeprecedence over individual policies. The service provider or operatorcan upload policy documents via the REF-1 interface. GLMS 306collaborates with policy service 310 to ensure proper authorization ofthe requests. The level of collaboration depends on how the policyservice is implemented in the network.

Another implementation could involve portal/provisioning system 332interacting with policy service 310 directly and authorizing the groupoperation request before sending it to GLMS 306. In this implementationGLMS 306 is limited to ensuring global uniqueness of the groupidentifier, storing the group definitions, interacting with the addresstranslation service (if required) and interacting with DM/DS services360 to distribute the group definitions. If portal/provisioning systems332 have already authorized the request, then it tags the request in theAPI call to GLMS 306 to inform the GLMS that the authorization hasalready taken place.

The optional functional entities in this architecture are the chargingfunctions, data distribution function and the address translationservices.

The three architectures described above are merely exemplary, and thepresent invention can be practiced using other architecture. Forexample, SMS, MMS and WAP can be used to interact with the user andprovide notifications.

The GLMS also includes other interfaces (not illustrated) for OSSsupport such as for provisioning, ODBC for specific DB Access, EMSinterface for alarming etc.

As an evolution plan for an initial deployment the GLMS, policy andaggregation proxy services could be implemented as a single system. Fromthe policy enforcement perspective the policy documents could initiallybe handled by the GLMS but as the policy function evolves to provideauthorizations across the services and applications layer the userpreferences and policy document management can be moved to thatfunction. Since the present invention provides two separate SIPSubscribe event packages, i.e., the “auth” and “group” events, therewould be no impact on the device side. The network can take care ofresolving/routing the different SIP messages without any action from thedevice client, which will ease the migration to an independent policyfunction.

Similarly, if there are no other document management servers then theaggregation proxy could be implemented as part of the GLMS service, andas additional list services (document management servers) are deployedthe aggregation proxy services could move out of the GLMS.

FIGS. 5 a-5 c are call flow diagrams of an exemplary method for creatinga new group in accordance with the present invention. The call flowillustrates how a closed group can be created from a user terminal (witha XDMC). User A creates a closed group that has B and C. The groupdefinition is distributed to B and C via SyncML Interfaces. In FIGS. 5a-5 c, User A is the group creator, and Users B and C are group members.

The call flow illustrated in FIGS. 5 a-5 c assumes that a closed groupdoes not exist and User A has the necessary authorizations to create thegroup. This call flow also assumes that Users B and C have the addressbook synchronization service, and users B and C have disabled theirnotification for opt-in functionality. Upon completion of the processesillustrated in this call flow a group is successfully created and thegroup address and other parameters are distributed to the members, viathe SyncML.

User A, through the device GUI (address book/contacts), selects Users Band C to include them in a closed group. User A chooses a name for thegroup and the device client sends this request to the network via theGLMS client in an XCAP PUT request (Step 501). Through previousconfiguration and via the GLMS discovery process the XDM client/agenthas learned of the aggregation proxy addresses and sends the XCAP Putmethod incorporating the group definition in the HTTP body.

The aggregation proxy authenticates the device client, which isdependent upon the particular implementation (Step 502). For example,the device client could be authenticated by the IP layer before therequest reaches the aggregation proxy, by the GAA 3GPP architecture ifit is in place, or automatically by the credentials stored in thedevice. The aggregation proxy then forwards the XCAP PUT request to theGLMS (Step 503). The aggregation proxy uses the AUID of the GLMS that isin the request as a routing address. Further, the aggregation proxy addsthe device client asserted identity header in the HTTP request, thisheader including the device client's unique identifier.

The GLMS verifies if User A has subscribed to the GLMS Service, byrequesting User A's profile from the subscriber profile service (Step504). This can be performed using Web services/SOAP, Sh or otherprotocol, depending on the implementation. The subscriber profileservice gets the request and returns User A's profile to the GLMS (Step505 a). If the profile indicates that the user has subscribed to theGLMS service, then the GLMS proceeds to get authorization from thepolicy service for the group members (User B and User C) (Step 505 b).The GLMS sends the group creators' identity, group name and the membersof the group (User B and User C) to the policy service (Step 505 c).

The policy service checks the opt-in rules for each user and, ifrequired, sends them the SIP “auth” event notifications (Step 505 d).The notification body at a minimum includes the group creator and thegroup name. As the notified users respond to the policy service, thepolicy service provides feedback to the GLMS via the REF-1 interface.The GLMS waits for the first positive response from the policy servicebefore any further steps are executed. If the opt-in process takes longtime the GLMS can respond to User A with a progress code e.g., 202Accepted.

If the user is authorized to perform the group operations then the GLMSdetermines if the Group ID is globally unique (Step 506). If it is notunique the GLMS could be configured to recommend a unique groupidentifier to the user or can return an error to the user. Depending onthe request, GLMS will determine if some service specific actions needto be performed, i.e., invoking a service specific GLMS service.Furthermore, if the network still supports addressing using non-SIPURLs, then for those specific applications the GLMS constructs adifferent instance of the group that has a different addressing format.

This call flow shows the GLMS invoking the application-specific function(Step 507). As indicated above, the “service specific” functions couldbe in the same physical network element as a separate software plug-inmodule or could be implemented as a separate network element. In thissample call flow, the application-specific functions services therequest from the common GLMS core (Step 508).

The application-specific function may need an additional subscriberdatabase and profiles which it can obtain from the subscriber profileservice (Step 509). The subscriber profile service can be a HSS, CDM-Eor a virtual data broker that a network operator may deploy. In thisexample the message contains a profile request for User B and User C;User A's profile is already available in Step 507 so there is no need torequest it again.

The application-specific function creates the application-specific groupID's based on application-specific parameters like preferred vocoder,region ID, etc., and invokes the data distribution function to uploadthe data to the application servers (Step 510). The application-specificfunction then sends the application-specific group parameters to thecommon GLMS for storage (Step 511). If the application-specific functionis an XDM server then it may optionally store its own documents, andwhen implemented as a plug-in software module extension then this stepcan be a function call back to the main processing logic. The GLMSupdates the group database with the application-specific functions (Step512). Upon a success in step 512, the GLMS acknowledges step 511 (Step513).

Steps 514 and 515 are optional. Step 514 is implemented when the GLMSneeds to interact with the address translation service to get theapplication-specific address for each user. The interface to invoke theaddress translations could be an API call to the address translatorservice. Alternatively, application-specific addresses may be providedby the device client in step 503, and in this case steps 514 and 515 arenot required. When the GLMS receives the translated address for thecomplete member list it may need to invoke a service-specific functionto process those identities (Step 515).

If Users B and C have subscribed to network-based synchronizationservice, then the GLMS invokes the address book service to send theusers device client the group identifier and parameters (Step 516). Ifthe Users B and C have not subscribed to the network-based address book,then they would have to subscribe to the “group” event package so thatthe GLMS can notify them of the group.

The GLMS sends the HTTP response to the initial request to theaggregation proxy server (Step 517). The HTTP 202 message is shown hereas an example, and it could be HTTP 200 OK message instead. Theaggregation proxy forwards the response to User A's device (Step 518).It should be noted that User A's device should synchronize the addressbook to the network-based server. The network-based address book servicesynchronizes the address book of Users B and C to one or multipledevices based on their profile settings (Steps 519 and 520).

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary call flow diagram of a method forretrieving members in a group in accordance with exemplary embodimentsof the present invention.

The call flow assumes that User B's device has resolved the address ofthe GLMS through the DNS procedures, which will resolve to theaggregation proxy's address.

After completion of this call flow procedure, User B obtains the groupmembers from the network. If the group list is large then the userinterface can display a reduced set with an option to display more. Thelist could be presented to the user based on user settings likealphabetically, etc. Further, assuming a sample group size of 2,000members, and each member's address is 50 bytes, the XML padding isanother 30 bytes, a total of 80 bytes is required for each member. For a2,000 member group it would be a 16 KB data payload. If the aggregationproxy compresses it then it would be shorter. When devices are EV-DO Acapable, throttling probably need not occur at the server, rather thedevice can render it appropriately.

Initially, User B is notified of a new group. This notification couldeither be through a SIP Notify due to a previous subscription to groupevents or through the group synchronization process via the networkaddress and synchronization services. Although the call flow illustratesnotifications from the address book synchronization service, this couldbe a notification via SIP Notify or in case of public group User B couldhave retrieved the group name from a portal (Step 601). The userinterface of User B's device presents a soft key for the user to get thegroup members. After the user presses the soft key, the device thensends the XCAP Get method to the aggregation proxy (Step 602). If thedevice does not know the AUID of the application a default AUID could beused in the Request URI. The aggregation proxy performs the necessaryauthentication and compression negotiation (Step 603) and forwards therequest to the GLMS (Step 604). The XCAP AUID could be a default AUID.

The GLMS determines if access to the XML group document requiresauthorization. If an explicit authorization is required, then the GLMScollaborates with the policy service (Steps 605 a-d). The GLMS obtainsthe policy for User B to ensure that he/she is authorized to receivemember list of the requested group (Step 606). The GLMS sends the HTTP200 OK to the aggregation proxy that contains the group as an embeddedMIME body (Step 607). The aggregation proxy sends the response, afteroptionally compressing, it to User B (Step 608).

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary call flow diagram for subscription andnotification of changes to group definitions. Generally, this call flowinvolves User B who is a member of a group and would like to be notifiedof changes to group definitions that he/she belongs to. User B, throughthe user interface, selects this option via a soft key. The device hasthe appropriate event header parameters such as document name,application name, etc. GLMS stores the group documents and supports SIPSubscribe for document changes. The IMS Core (if present) is responsiblefor routing the SIP messages to the GLMS. The IMS core also provides thefunctions of device client identity assertion when present. If the IMScore is not present then some SIP Proxy in the network is delegated thattask.

The call flow assumes that User B's device knows the event headerparameters. Normally these parameters would be sent to the device withthe group information. It also assumes that the device, for over-the-airoptimizations, supports the xcap-diff.xml MIME bodies, so that thedevice can get document deltas rather then complete documents. Thedevice should use any preconfigured SIP Route header parameters if ithas them. Upon completion of this call flow, the device obtains anotification immediately after the first subscription and subsequentnotifications whenever the document changes.

User B's device sends the SIP Subscribe (with the appropriate eventheader parameters) to the IMS core (Step 701). The IMS Core asserts theidentity by adding appropriate headers in the SIP Subscribe message, andforwards the SIP Subscribe to the GLMS (Step 702).

The GLMS adds the user to the watcher database (Step 703). When policiesare associated with a group vis-á-vis subscriptions, the GLMS checks thegroup policies and responds with an appropriate error messages ifsubscription is not allowed. Optionally, if subscription to groupchanges is a paid service, the GLMS can collaborate with policy serviceto ensure that User B is authorized to subscribe to notifications ofgroup changes.

The GLMS sends a 200 OK message to the IMS core to acknowledge thesubscription request (Step 704). The IMS core sends the 200 OK to UserB's device (Step 705). The GLMS sends a Notify message as per RFC 3265to the IMS Core (Step 706) and the IMS core forwards the Notify messageto User B's device (Step 707). User B's device sends a 200 OK message(for the Notify) to the IMS Core to acknowledge the reception of thenotification (Step 708), and the IMS core sends the 200 OK to the GLMS(Step 709).

When a group owner, a member or an administrator modifies the group(Step 710), the GLMS sends the Notify message to the IMS core tocommunicate the modification to the group (Step 711). The modificationof the group could also be due to some feature logic in the GLMS, suchas automatic resumption of a members' “suspend” status to “active” e.g.,after vacation, corporate group becoming active at 8:00 AM in themorning, etc. The GLMS may subscribe to the user's registration stateusing the “reg” event package as per IMS rules for efficientNotification e.g., send a Notify only when the user is active.

The IMS core forwards the Notify message to User B's device (Step 712).User B's device sends a 200 OK message to the SIP Core to acknowledgethe reception of the group change notification (Step 713). The IMS coreforwards the 200 OK message to the GLMS (Step 714).

FIGS. 8 a-8 c and 9 a-9 c are call flow diagrams of exemplary methodsfor providing opt-in support for groups. When a person creates a group,prior authorization may be required from the group members before theycan be included in the group. This model is called the opt-in model.Members can set their default preferences in a policy service, and arerequired to subscribe to such events so that the network can notify themof such events. In this scenario, the group definition is not activateduntil at least one member opts into the group. Other members of thegroup could have the attributes of “Pending Notification”, “Notified”,“Suspend” and “Rejected”.

The present invention provides two alternatives for opt-in. In Option 1(FIGS. 8 a-8 c), the user that wants to be “consulted” subscribes to theGLMS with SIP Subscribe and the custom event header called “auth”(authorizations). The GLMS acts as an enforcement point and the policyservice provides the necessary policy documents. The advantage in thisoption is that the policy service does not have to support SIP and theimplementation is straightforward since the GLMS already has to supportSIP (for group changes). In Option 2 (FIGS. 9 a-9 c) the user subscribesdirectly with the policy service using SIP Subscribe and the customevent header call “auth” (authorizations). The policy service isresponsible for obtaining user feedback and informing other services ofthe decision.

From the architecture perspective Option 2 is provides flexibility ofreuse across other services and applications. Moreover, users do nothave to explicitly subscribe with individual enablers for opt-in events.The policy service becomes the central point for all authorizationrequests and other services interact with the policy service.

In FIGS. 8 a-8 c, User A is a user who wants to create a group that hasUser B and other members, and User B is a user who has set preferencesto get explicit notifications for all groups in which the user is made amember. The aggregation proxy provides the necessary XCAP routing,authentication and compression services. The GLMS provides the intrinsicgroup service within the network.

In Option 1 the policy database is a database store for the userpreferences, and can be an XDM Server. In Option 2 the policy serviceprovides the policy decision point as well as storing the userpreferences. If the policy service is an XDM sever that stores userpreferences in the form of XML documents then it is accessed via theaggregation proxy. The subscriber profile service stores the subscriberprofile, device capabilities or other data this could be an HSS, CDM-Eetc.

The method of FIGS. 8 a-8 c assumes that User A has subscribed to groupchanges. This allows User A to get feedback of the members opt-inprogress and status. If the group being created is large, e.g., 2000members, then the notifications can be aggregated and sent based on sometimer (e.g., every 10 minutes) or event counters (e.g., every 100events). After completing these procedures the group is createdsuccessfully. User B uploads a policy document so that additional futurerequests from User A does not require explicit authorizations fromhim/her.

User B subscribes to the GLMS for “auth” events using SIP Subscribe(Step 801). The GLMS sends a 200 OK message to User B (Step 802). Ifsubscriptions to the “auth” event are a paid service then the GLMSensures that the subscriber is allowed to perform the requiredsubscriptions. The GLMS interacts with the subscriber profile service todetermine if the user is allowed to subscribe to opt-in events.

The GLMS sends an immediate Notify as per RFC 3265 (Step 803). Theimmediate SIP Notify message indicates that the subscription has beensuccessfully created in the network element. The Notify also containsother headers like the expires header that indicates the life of thesubscription.

User B's device responds with a SIP 200 OK message to acknowledge thereceipt of the Notify message (Step 804). User A requests that the GLMScreate a group. The request is sent using XCAP PUT to the aggregationproxy (Step 805). The XDM aggregation proxy performs the requiredauthentication (Step 806). Upon successful authentication of the user,the aggregation proxy forwards the request to the GLMS (Step 807). Itincludes the necessary device client asserted headers in the request.

The GLMS then performs the necessary authorization check to ensure thatUser A is allowed to create groups (Step 808). The GLMS obtains User A'sprofile from the subscriber profile service (Step 809), which hassubscription attributes that indicate that User A is subscribed to theGLMS service (Step 810).

The GLMS determines if the opt-in process needs to be invoked (Step811). The GLMS retrieves User B preferences from the policy database(Step 812). The policy document for User B indicates that the user needsto be notified before being added to the group (Step 813). The GLMSchecks to see if the subscription for User B exists. If no subscriptionexists then the user attribute will be set to “pending notification”state.

The GLMS responds with a HTTP 202 message to indicate that the groupcreation request has been accepted and is being processed (Step 814). Onreceipt of the 202 HTTP responses the client in User A's device preparesa SIP SUBSCRIBE message to get notifications for group changes (Step815). The GLMS checks the policy rules to ensure that the subscriptionto the group changes are allowed (Step 816). The GLMS acknowledges thereceipt of the Subscribe message by sending a SIP 200 OK message (Step817). The GLMS sends a SIP Notify message to the device as per IETF RFC3265 (Step 818). The device responds with a SIP 200 OK message (Step819).

The GLMS notifies User B of the “auth” event, and a customized MIME bodyis included to indicate the group owner (User A), group name andoptionally other members (Step 820). Due to privacy or other reasons themember list might not be included. User B's device acknowledges receiptof the notification with 200 OK message (Step 821).

User B is ready to respond and the user uploads a XML document thatindicates the response (Step 822). This could be a one timeauthorization for that specific group or User B could optionally have aglobal policy document where all requests from User A are automaticallyaccepted. The GLMS acknowledges the receipt of XML document of step 814with a HTTP 200 OK message (Step 823). The GLMS then applies the policyrules based on the new document to the group created by User A(optionally to all future groups created by User A that includes User B)(Step 824). The GLMS then updates the policy database with the newdocument (Step 825), and notifies User A of User B's response (Step826). This notification can be delayed and sent after a pre-determinednumber of members have responded. The device acknowledges the receipt ofthe Notify by sending a 200 OK message (Step 827).

FIGS. 9 a-9 c illustrate exemplary call flow diagrams of an exemplarymethod for providing opt-in support for groups in accordance withanother aspect of the present invention. In this method the policyservice provides the decisions regarding some of the group-relatedoperations.

User B subscribes to the Policy Service for “auth” events using a SIPSubscribe message (Step 901). Upon verifying authorization, the policyservice acknowledges the subscription with a 200 OK message (Step 902).If subscriptions to the “auth” event are a paid service, then the policyservice ensures that the subscriber is allowed to perform the requiredsubscriptions. The policy service interacts with the subscriber profileservice to determine if the user is allowed to subscribe to opt-inevents.

The policy service sends an immediate Notify as per RFC 3265 (Step 903).The immediate SIP Notify indicates that the subscription has beensuccessfully created in the network element, the Notify also containsother headers like the expires header that indicates the life of thesubscription. The device acknowledges the notification with a SIP 200 OK(Step 904).

User A sends a request to the GLMS to create a group using XCAP to theaggregation proxy (Step 905), and the aggregation proxy authenticatesthe incoming request (Step 906). Upon successful authentication, theaggregation proxy forwards the request to the GLMS (Step 907). The GLMSdetermines that authorization is required and sends a request to thesubscriber profile service to receive authorization (Step 908).

The GLMS sends a message to the subscriber profile service and retrievesthe profile of User A (Step 909). Using the subscriber profile the GLMSchecks for the subscription flags that indicate if group operations areallowed (Step 910). Depending on the XCAP request the GLMS verifies ifthe opt-in logic needs to be invoked (Step 911). The GLMS sends an APIrequest to the policy service, the request including the groupidentifier, the group owner and the target members that need to be addedto the group (Step 912).

The policy service obtains the user preferences from the internal policydatabases. The policy document for User B indicates that the user needsto be notified before being added to the group (Step 913). The policyservice determines if the subscription for the User B exists. If nosubscription exists then the policy service responds to the GLMSindicating the notification to the user is still pending and the GLMSsets the user attribute to a “pending notification” state.

The policy service notifies the user of the “auth” event, and acustomized MIME body will be included to indicate the group owner (UserA), group name and optionally other members (Step 914). Due to privacyor other reasons the member list might not be included. User B respondswith a 200 OK message to the notification (Step 915). The policy serviceresponds to the GLMS with a response that includes the progress of themember notifications process (Step 916). The GLMS sends an HTTP 202response to User A (Steps 917 and 918).

On receipt of the 202 HTTP responses, the client in User A's deviceprepares a SIP SUBSCRIBE message to get notifications for group changes(Step 919). The GLMS checks the policy rules to ensure that thesubscription to the group changes are allowed (Step 920). The GLMSacknowledges the receipt of the Subscribe message by sending a SIP 200OK message (Step 921). The GLMS sends a SIP Notify message to the deviceas per IETF RFC 3265 (Step 922). The device responds with a SIP 200 OKmessage (Step 923).

When User B is ready to respond, the user uploads the XML document thatindicates the response (Step 924). This could be a one timeauthorization for that specific group or User B could optionally have aglobal policy document where all requests from User A are automaticallyaccepted. The policy service responds with a HTTP 200 OK message (Step925). The GLMS applies the policy rules based on the new document (Step926). The policy service sends an authorization response that indicatesthat the requests from User B has been accepted (Step 927). The GLMSalso notifies the group owner of the group changes (Step 928), and thedevice sends the SIP 200 response (Step 929).

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary call flow diagram of methods foropt-out support in groups. When a user does not want to be part of thegroup either temporarily or permanently the user has the ability toopt-out of the group, this user action is termed as opting out.

In the method of FIG. 10, User A is the group owner and User B is agroup member who would like to opt-out of the group. The address bookand synchronization service and GLMS are network-based services. Thepolicy service is responsible for provide authorizations for groupoperations and stores the user's black/white lists, company policies andother global rules.

The method assumes that User A has created a group that includes User Band other members. User B was part of the group either by default or hadpreviously given authorization to be part of the group (e.g., throughthe opt-in process). User B learns the Group URI when the Group URI isincluded as part of the notification via the GLMS directly if the userhas subscribed to group events, or the Group URI is sent to the addressbook via the synchronization service (if the user has thesynchronization service). Upon completion of this process flow User Bopts-out of the group and the GLMS notifies the group owner and modifiesthe group attribute accordingly.

User B is part of a group created by User A that includes him/her as themember (Step 1001 a). Depending on the group type, User B may haveprovided prior authorizations to be included in the group (opt-inprocess). User B then obtains the group URI either through a group eventnotification or an address book synchronization service.

User A performs a subscription to group changes (Step 1001 b). User Bdecides not to be part of the group (Step 1002). From the device userinterface, the user selects the group to either reject or suspendhis/her membership from the group. The device client sends an XCAP PUTmessage to the GLMS via the aggregation proxy (not illustrated).

The GLMS processes the XCAP PUT and ensures that the device has theproper authorization to remove himself/herself from the group (Step1003). For example, a corporation may not allow some members to opt-outor suspend themselves from groups. This authorization may not require aninteraction with the policy service if the group semantics define thatno opt-out is allowed, for example. Optionally, the GLMS may collaboratewith the policy service to ensure User B is authorized to opt-out.

The GLMS sends an API call to the policy service that includes the groupname, group type, group owner and the member who is requesting anopt-out (Step 1004). The policy service executes its opt-out process toverify if User B is allowed to opt-out (Step 1005). The policy servicesends the authorization decision to the GLMS (Step 1006), and the GLMSacknowledges the receipt of the rejection/suspension request from User Bwith a HTTP 200 OK message (Step 1007). If group owner and other membersof the group have subscribed to group changes, the GLMS notifies them ofthis change (Step 1008). User A's device client acknowledges the receiptof the group change notification with a 200 OK message (Step 1009).

FIGS. 11 a-11 c are call flow diagrams of an exemplary method for groupmanagement via a portal in accordance with the present invention. Sincethe portal can be accessed by any web-based client, the orchestrationbetween the various back-end services is a little bit different and iselaborated here. Web browsers (web clients) generally do not supportXCAP, and accordingly, the portal performs some customized operations.

The portal provides a front-end web interface for subscribers to manageand view their accounts, personal data, personalized content, subscribedfeatures and services, etc. User A logs-in via the portal to performgroup management functions. The GLMS provides the group list managementservice. The address book and synchronization service are network-basedservices that act as a backup for the users' contacts and provides asynchronization service.

The policy service is responsible for provide authorizations for groupoperations. It stores the users Black/White list, company policies andother global rules. The subscriber profile service makes the subscriberprofile available to other service enablers via published interface. Theprofile contains operator provisioned attributes of a subscriber thatgenerally include the subscribed features, public and private profilesetc. The application-specific function takes care of anyapplication-specific group processing logic and rules that the commonGLMS does not provide. This could be a software plug-in module or anindependent physical entity.

User E is a new user being added to the group, and the user hassubscribed to the address book and synchronization service. The callflow of FIGS. 11 a-11 c assume that User A has previously created agroup and is now logging on to the portal to perform group relatedfunctions. Upon completion of the call flow the requested actions fromthe web based client have been successfully executed.

Using a web client the user logs-in to the company portal, such as anetwork operator, MVNO or even an enterprise portal (Step 1101). Theportal determines that authentication is required (Step 1102).Authorization to some level is also performed at the portal, but thatauthorization is not relevant for group management so is not discussedhere.

The portal sends an unauthorized HTTP message to request credentials(Step 1103) and User A's device responds with the necessary information.The user clicks on a link to access the address book (Step 1104), andthe portal retrieves the address book entries from the address bookservice (Step 1105). The address book entries that include individualcontacts and groups are sent to the web client portal (Step 1106), andthen the user selects a group address and clicks to see the member list(Step 1107).

In Option 1 a the portal interacts with the address book service for all“contact” list management operations. In Option 1 b the portal interactswith the GLMS directly to perform the group operations and for other“contact” management it interacts with the address book service.

In accordance with Option 1 a, the portal uses an API function call tothe address book service to obtain the group members (Step 1108). Theaddress book service uses an API or a XCAP GET method to retrieve thegroup members from the GLMS (Step 1109), and then sends a response tothe portal that includes the members of the group (Step 1110). Theportal sends the group member list to the web client to be rendered onuser's device (Step 1111).

In Option 1 b the portal sends an API command to the GLMS to retrievethe group members (Step 1112). Alternatively, the portal could alsoimplement the XDMC GET method. The GLMS responds to the request with thelist of group members (Step 1113). The portal sends the group memberlist to the web client to render on user's device (Step 1114).

Assume now that User A wants to add a new member User E to the group(Step 1115). Similar to that described above, there are twoimplementations of the portal to support this. In this Option 2 a theportal interacts with the address book service for all “contact” listmanagement operations including groups. In Option 2 b the portalinteracts with the GLMS directly to perform the group operations and forother “contact” management it interacts with the address book service.

In accordance with Option 2 a, the portal sends the request to theaddress book service using a publish API method (Step 1116). The addressbook has extended APIs to include group management. The address bookservice proxies the request to the GLMS (Step 1117). If the APIs aredifferent, the address book service performs the necessary conversion.

In Option 2 b the portal sends the add member request to the GLMSdirectly (Step 1118). In this case the portal is aware of the contacts'context and the portal differentiates between address book services likeindividual contacts management versus group management. The GLMSretrieves the necessary policies and profiles to ensure properauthorization of the incoming request (Step 1119). The policy servicemay initiate opt-in procedures the policy service may have to notifyUser E to get explicit authorization.

The GLMS may, optionally, need to invoke address translation services ifthere is a necessity to perform address translation for the new member(Step 1120). Step 1120 is optional and may not be needed for allapplications.

If needed, the GLMS invokes application-specific functions to performappropriate logic (Step 1121). The application-specific GLMS functionsmay need to get application-specific parameters from the subscriberprofile service in order to process the request (Step 1122).

Returning now to Option 2 a, once the application-specific tasks havebeen completed, the GLMS responds to the add member request of Step 1117from the address book service indicating if the request was successful;otherwise it will respond with an appropriate error message (Step 1123).The address book service responds to the request of step 1116 from theportal by proxying the message from the GLMS (Step 1124). Messagetranslations may be required if the formats are different.

Returning now to Option 2 b, the GLMS directly responds to the requestfrom the portal received in Step 1118 (Step 1125). Assuming that User Ehas subscribed to synchronization service (Step 1126). The GLMS is awareof this subscription for User E's profile it retrieved in Step 1122. TheGLMS notifies the address and synchronization services to push the groupidentifier to the new User E. Furthermore, if the portal is used tocreate a “New” group and User A has also subscribed to the address bookand synchronization service the GLMS will also include User A in the APIcall to the address book service. If it is just group modifications thenin this Step 1126, User A is not included because the address bookentries of the User A have not changed. This step is optional if none ofthe members have subscribed to the address book and synchronizationservice. Optionally, the users may have subscribed to the “group” event;in that case the GLMS would send a SIP Notify to the members.

The portal acknowledges user request for new member addition in Step1115 (Step 1127). The GLMS notifies all watchers of this group ofmodification made by User A (Step 1128). The address book andsynchronization service initiates the synchronization procedure for thenew user (Step 1129). Synchronization is not required for other membersas the member list are not expected to be synchronized.

The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate theinvention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of thedisclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of theinvention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention shouldbe construed to include everything within the scope of the appendedclaims and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for supporting group communications, thesystem comprising: a group management server, which creates and storesunique identifier information for a group to be used by at least twocommunication applications to address the group; and a subscriberprofile service, coupled to the group management server, wherein thesubscriber profile service stores information related to subscribers ofthe at least two communication applications, wherein the at least twocommunication applications include electronic mail, voice interconnect,voice dispatch, instant messaging, short message service (SMS) ormultimedia message service (MMS), wherein if one of the communicationapplications cannot use the unique identifier information to address thegroup, the group management server creates an application-specificidentifier which is an alias of the unique identifier information toenable the communication application to address the group.
 2. The systemof claim 1, further comprising: an address translation service coupledto the group management server, wherein the address translation servicestores the application-specific identifier for each member of a group.3. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a presence service coupledto the group management server.
 4. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising: an address book service coupled to the group managementserver.
 5. The system of claim 4, further comprising: a synchronizationservice coupled to the group management server, wherein when a new groupis created by the group management server, unique identifier informationof the new group is sent to the address book and synchronizationservices and the synchronization service synchronizes the uniqueidentifier information to other group members.
 6. The system of claim 1,further comprising: a data distribution function coupled between thegroup management server and an application server, wherein the groupmanagement server provides updated group information to the datadistribution function.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the datadistribution function includes an interface with the group managementserver that operates according to open database connectivity protocol(ODBC), session initiation protocol (SIP) or web services protocol. 8.The system of claim 1, further comprising: an aggregation proxy coupledbetween the group management server and one or more user devices,wherein the aggregation proxy authenticates the user devices accessingthe group management server.
 9. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising: a charging function coupled to the group management server,the charging function generates charges for usage of services of thegroup management server.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the groupmanagement server includes a charging trigger function that interfaceswith the charging function for real-time charging of prepaidsubscribers.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the group managementserver stores group information in an eXtensible Markup Language (XML)format.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein a user terminal communicateswith the group management server using session initiation protocol(SIP).
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein a user terminal manages groupsstored in the group management server using eXtensible Markup Languagedocument management server (XDMS) protocol.
 14. The system of claim 1,wherein a user terminal manages groups stored in the group managementserver using Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Device Management (DM) protocol.15. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a policy service; and aweb portal, coupled to the policy service, wherein the web portalinteracts with the policy service to create, view and manage groups. 16.The system of claim 1, wherein the group management server includes aninterface for authorization services and integration of web services.17. The system of claim 1, wherein the group management server andsubscriber profile service are coupled via an interface that operatesaccording to a DIAMETER-based protocol or web services-based protocol.18. The system of claim 1, wherein the subscriber profile serviceidentifies whether a subscriber is authorized to use group managementservices.
 19. The system of claim 1, wherein the group management serversupports opting into groups, opting out of groups, delegating groupcreation or updating, creating, reading, updating and deleting groups,group suspension, globally unique identifiers, application-specificidentifiers, or different addressing formats.
 20. A system forsupporting group communications, the system comprising: a groupmanagement server, which generates and stores a globally unique groupidentifier for use by at least two communication applications to addressa group; and a synchronization service coupled to the group managementserver, wherein the synchronization service receives a group definitionfor the group from the group management server and distributes thedefinitions to members of the group, wherein when one of the at leasttwo communication applications do not support a format of the globallyunique group identifier, the group management server also generates anapplication-specific group identifier associated with the globallyunique group identifier for the communication application to address thegroup.